Playground equipment has in the past been constructed from modular components comprising vertical support columns, and components attachable thereto such as horizontal beams for supporting decks, handrails, ladders, obstacles, tunnels, or manipulative devices such as steering wheels designed to be manipulated by children when assembly of the playground equipment is complete. In assembling such modular components, the vertical support columns are placed in a post hole in the ground, and concrete is usually poured into the hole and allowed to harden to hold the columns in place, then the desired components are attached to the support columns.
In the building industry horizontal support beams have been attached to grooved vertical support columns using a one-piece connector having a flange at one end and a pair of opposing jaws at the other end. The flange end contained a hole for attaching support beams, and the jaws at the other end contained opposing tongues designed to slide over the top of the vertical column in opposing grooves and to be locked in place at a desired location by the use of fasteners. This type of construction has been adapted for use in constructing modular playground equipment. However, this kind of system requires excessive assembly time, including at least partial disassembly of other components if an error in placing connectors is made or if additional connectors are to be added to an assembled playground set since the connectors must be placed over the top of the column and moved into position by sliding them down a set of grooves.
The present invention provides connectors which can be placed in opposing or facing grooves at the proper location on a grooved vertical support column. The two connectors are then pulled together and locked in place. This substantially decreases the time and effort required for assembly of modular playground equipment and avoids needless disassembly due to mistakes or later expansion of the playground equipment.